| I met up with Andy and a group of birders at St. Marks. Only one
Rusty Blackbird was seen at the bridges, and after a while we moved to
Stoney Bayou. A walk all the way around the back one (2?) gave me
my 240th bird of the year. Was it Ross's Goose? I wish. Maybe
Black Duck? Ha. 240 was Northern Pintail. Made it worth the
5 mile walk. A quick stop at Mounds 3 revealed a few Gadwalls
that really wanted to be Black Ducks. I left to make it to the
Brant in time to think about birding Merritt Island before the sun went
down. In Jefferson County I picked up another U turn after Andy
called to tell me about White-faced Ibis. I rushed back only to
find that the ibis were hiding. I waited for the flock of waders
to make their way out into the open, as I looked at more Gadwall hoping
for a Black Duck. One bird looked good for a while before it
flew. The ibis also flew, and I thought I could see red in one of
the birds eyes. When one bird (I think there were four in the
flock) kept moving out it would be a Glossy. The next one that
moved out was another Glossy. That left the two birds I saw fly
in to be the White-faced. One came out quickly and looked like it
might have had red in the eye. Finally, after what seemed like
forever, I got a good look at a red eye on a young White-faced
Ibis. I left the refuge after saying bye to Andy with slim hopes
of getting 2 more year birds to pull me up to 243. Lots of
thoughts came to mind on the drive down to the Brant spot, like how
much more exciting it was birding with others, but also how nice it was
not to have to stop for food even though my stomach was
complaining. Fort Island was packed with people. The Brant
was nowhere to be seen in the swimming area, so I went onto a pier to
scan the gulf. I found one sandbar with a large group of White
Pelicans, but could not make anything out other than Pelicans and a few
Cormorants. I did find another sandbar that was a little
closer. It was a lot easier to make out the shapes of the birds
on this island, and I was able to find the brant resting on the sand
bar sticking his long neck and short bill up giving it a different
shape than any other bird on the sandbar. I was too cheap to take
the Turnpike and Bee Line home, so I took SR 44 and SR 46 to Titusville
to eat at Dixie Crossroads before making it home. The year list stood
at 242 |
